Government of India. Central Waterways Irrigation and Navigation Commission. Navigation in India

will not be without interest to the reader :--- " The countries between Delhi and the River Panzab being scantily supplied with water the Emperor Ferose III (1356) undertook the noble as well Is useful the task of supplying it better and at the same time meant to apply the water to the purpose of navigation These canals had for their immediate object the junction of the Sutlege and Jumna Rivers [...] the Sirhind and Western Jumna Canals in the Punjab the Upper and Lower Ganges Canals in the United Provinces the Orissa Canals and several of the canals in the Madras Presdency. [...] PREFERENCE TO RAILWAYS That none of the imposing schemes mentioned above saw the light of day Was doubtless due to the advent of railways whereby enthusiasm created by the novelty of speed must have obscured the economics of transportation."2 Had the same enthusiasm been accorded to the application of power to river cr1 the story of inland water transport in India might have been a very diff [...] Thes fleets were acquired by the Sind Railway in 1870 aed in 1882 the services wel closed down in the interests of railways transportatim The general character of Indus trade may be inferred from the following extract from the Imperial Gazet teer which refers to statistics for 1875-76 :- " The Indus Flotilla under the management of the Sind Railway Company carried down-stream goods to the value [...] On the West-Coast the waterways form the chief means of communication and transport in the interior of the country.